What RPGs Have Taught Me About Effective Software Development Teams
I grew up as a computer kid in the 80s and 90s and, consequently, spent a lot of time in video games. Now I manage two software engineering teams, and it’s time to prove to Mom that all those hours spent in Final Fantasy were actually valuable career development.
I’m primarily thinking about two video game genres: party-based RPGs and MMORPGs. The formula for these is pretty simple. You have a cast of characters with various capabilities, and they work together to accomplish amazing things. In order to succeed, you must be aware of your characters’ strengths & weaknesses, understand what skills are required to complete a challenge, and combine characters in a way that allows them to achieve the goal.
Well, that doesn’t sound so different from a software development team, does it? You’ve got a group of people with different abilities and aptitudes; you have a backlog of stories to complete; and the team must collaborate to achieve goals and accomplish amazing things. It’s, like, the same thing!
Given these undeniable parallels, what lessons from RPGs can be applied to software development teams?
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